Aftermath

It is very likely that you have all read the story of the very unfortunate woman, Torry Ann Hansen, who was done wrong by the very deceitful Russian government who was so nasty to her. The poor dear, Torry Ann Hansen. All Torry Ann Hansen wanted was to be a very good mum. See, Torry Ann Hansen is very kind, and wanted to take a nice displaced Russian boy into her home and give him love and cookies and smiles and hugs. But that isn’t what happened.

See, they lied to Torry Ann Hansen! They gave her a broken boy! He wasn’t right! He was just wrong and didn’t fit Torry Ann Hansen’s life properly! How was Torry Ann Hansen ever to possibly love this boy when he just was so not right?

So, Torry Ann Hansen did the only thing that she could do, given the unjust circumstances that befell her.

Torry Ann Hansen had her mother, Nancy Hansen, do some internet investigation, bought a ticket, packed the kid up on an airplane, and paid some dude to pick him up in Moscow. The dude walked the kid to the Education Ministry and dropped him off at the door.

Torry Ann Hansen is just the victim here.

Let’s forget that a boy, a seven year old boy, whose birth mother was an alcoholic, has lived in and probably suffered a little bit of neglect, in an institutionalized orphanage. Let’s forget that this boy will probably never forget that this woman, Torry Ann Hansen, promised to love him unconditionally, as parents are supposed to love their children — and adopted children are supposed to be loved just like biological children unless I missed some memo — and his most recent memory of parental sentiment was “you are broken, kid, so I have to return you to the manufacturer”. Or close enough, because that is how Torry Ann Hansen has treated this boy. As if he is a broken iPod or something.

Where are all of the records that show that she took him to doctors and therapists and counselors to get help? Where are all of the records from the home visits from the social workers who check up on adoptive families that show that there were attachment issues? Because you better believe that there are programs that help assist families like Torry Ann Hansen’s with these problems. As part of the fun package deal of adoption.

Oh, there weren’t any, because strangely, they moved, and the agency had no forwarding information by which to contact Torry Ann Hansen after their January home visit. For all they know Torry Ann Hansen started beating that boy after that first home visit and moved to hide from them.

Where are this boy’s school records? Surely a teacher or a school administrator could tell someone that he was having behavioral problems. They would certainly have notified someone that he was having trouble adjusting to his new life in the U.S. That is what school teachers are trained to do in situations like this. Was he even enrolled in school? Because he was certainly school aged! They had him for months, and he had no U.S. birth certificate. Why?

But at the root of all of this was that Torry Ann Hansen, in the absence on any evidence to the contrary, is just a jerk who gave up on a child who may or may not have been difficult. We have no idea if he had problems, because they didn’t seek outside help! All we know is that when shit got tough Torry Ann Hansen gave up. Instead of seeking out resources and trying to offer love and support to a child at a crucial time in his development Torry Ann Hansen cast him aside and gave him the very clear message that something is wrong with him.

That will live with him a long time.

Instead of offering him love she offered him rejection and a swift kick out the U.S. And in light of all the resources that could have been available to Torry Ann Hansen if she and Nancy Hansen had sought them out and not suspiciously moved away, characteristic of an abuser who is trying to hide what they are doing to a helpless and voiceless child who has no agency of his or her own, I feel no pity at all for Torry Ann Hansen.

Because, you understand, no matter what this boy says, it will be his word against Torry Ann Hansen’s, and in this country we have a horrible habit of not believing children when they speak. At least, we believe that children are always coerced when they speak, and that they can never talk of their own free will. Children remain voiceless victims who continue to speak to us, because no one really gives a damn what they say. A child’s voice is never stronger than the adults who speak against them. I hope that it isn’t so in this case.

And yes, Nancy Hansen, what your daughter, Torry Ann Hansen, did most certainly was child abandonment, and it was child endangerment. How do you know that the stranger you hired was genuine? What were his credentials? What reason did you have to believe he would do what you paid him to do once he had your money? Was he an unaccompanied minor guardian with the airline? No?

Torry Ann Hansen never saw Artyom Savelyev as a child. Not from anything we can see. Torry Ann Hansen saw him as something to try on, to alter (she tried to change his name to Justin, ya know, b/c those funny foreign names are so tough to say! Amirite?). He didn’t fit.

So Torry Ann Hansen sent him back.